Mr B suffered from autism and a personality disorder, and had received direct payments (DPs) to employ a personal assistant for 12 hours per week. He also received informal support from Ms Y.

All correspondence between the Council and Mr B went through Ms Y, as Mr B ‘often had meltdowns when the Council contacted him directly’ and he had removed consent for the Council to contact him directly.

In June 2018 Ms Y emailed the Council to request a re-assessment. She said the Council had not reassessed Mr B for three years. She said she did not have consent to discuss Mr B’s case and the Council had not put in place an independent advocate.

The review took place in October 2018, where Ms Y said she was no longer able to provide informal support. Mr B asked the Council to increase his care package, to account for losing Ms Y’s support.

The Council later emailed a draft assessment to Ms Y asking for more details. Ms Y stated she would no longer deal with any communication between the Council and Mr B after 5.30pm the next day, and suggested the Council send the updated assessment to Mr B’s MP.

The Council sent Ms Y an updated assessment at 5.20pm of her last day communicating for Mr B. She stated she did not see the email before 5.30, that it was inappropriate for the Council to send the document so close to the deadline, and it should send it on the Mr B’s MP (which it did)

In late November 2018, Mr B’s MP wrote to the Council asking it to consider appointing an advocate and give any reasons for a delay in doing so. The Council obtained Mr B’s consent then, in December 2018, made a referral to its independent advocacy service on Mr B’s behalf.

In late January, the Council contacted the advocacy service, as it had not heard anything since its referral. The service said it ‘was not instructed to act for Mr B at this time so could not communicate with the Council or update it about the referral’ and suggested they contact Mr B. The Council did not contact Mr B, as they did not have Mr B’s consent to do so.

The Council received a complaint from Ms Y in early February 2019, stating that Mr B still did not have an updated care and support plan or an independent advocate. Ms Y complained that the Council had made a poor referral to the service, but did not explain in what way.

Mr B then contacted the Council directly to complain. He asked the Council if he had a choice in which service he used, because it seemed as though his advocate was allocated arbitrarily. He also complained he was going without hot meals due to the Council not completing the re-assessment.

The Council responded that Mr B did have a choice and provided information about other advocacy services he could contact. The Council asked Mr B to give consent for the advocacy service to share information with the Council, or alternatively, for Mr B to give his permission for the Council to contact him directly so it could complete the assessment.

Mr B did not give consent for either.

In March 2019, the Council sent a copy of the re-assessment document to Mr B via his MP. The Council also suggested an alternative advocacy provider. Mr B responded to say he wished to use a different provider, but not one the Council had so far suggested.

The new plan showed that Mr B would receive the same amount of hours as his previous plan had allowed for. It did not include provisions for informal support, as the Council found no evidence that his eligible needs had increased, and the hours provided were sufficient.

Mr B provided comments to the Council about the plan via email, to which they responded. This correspondence resulted in Mr B having a meltdown, and breaking his phone and several plates. Mr B sent an invoice to the Council for these, which they declined to pay.

Mr B also complained about the conduct and competency of the social worker on his case, and stated he would not agree to anything drafted by them again.

In September 2019 the Council wrote to Mr B, setting out how it would go forward. It asked Mr B to give consent for it to refer him to its new advocacy provider. It said another social worker would be available to complete a re-assessment from November 2019.

According to the LGO, Mr B’s correspondence to the Council regularly contained strong and, at times, abusive language. Mr B said this was due to his condition and the Council must accept this as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality Act. The Council highlighted it must balance this with its duty to protect the wellbeing of its staff.

What was found

The Council was not at fault for the way it completed Mr B’s reassessment. The LGO stated that although the reassessment was not completed within the desired 4-6 weeks, the delay was not because of any fault from the Council.

The LGO stated that whether or not there was a delay in sending the documents to the MP, it was clear that Mr B wanted an independent advocate appointed, who could act as the middle man for support. As soon as it became clear a timely appointment of an advocate was unlikely, it sent the document to Mr B via his MP. Therefore the LGO found no fault in the Council’s decision to wait for the appointment of an independent advocate, before continuing to finalise the re-assessment.

The Council was not at fault for the outcome of the assessment. The LGO stated that the Council had clearly set out why it considered 12 hours or support to be sufficient, and that informal support, and therefore its cessation, was never a factor that had affected his care plan.

The LGO stated that although the Council had a responsibility to provide an advocate, and Mr B remained without one, it was not through the fault of the Council. The Council was not at fault, because it was clear they made a referral. Mr B did not have to engage an advocate from the Council’s service and had been invited to choose an alternative service. The Council could have supported him to arrange another advocate, but only with his consent to contact with HIM. The Council asked for this consent, but Mr B declined. The LGO stated that the Council could only fulfil its duty to provide an advocate with Mr B’s consent.

The Council was not at fault in failing to provide interim payments, as there is nothing in the Act or Guidance that says Councils must make interim payments while an assessment is ongoing.

After the Council has completed an initial assessment of someone’s needs, the person may request direct payments instead of care arranged by the Council. While the Council is considering this request to receive the budget in that form, it should provide interim payments in line with the Guidance. However, this did not apply to Mr B’s situation as he was already receiving direct payments. The Council did not stop these while it completed the re-assessment. It continued to meet Mr B’s needs in line with the care plan throughout.

Any increase in direct payments would only take effect after completion of the re-assessment. In some cases, councils might backdate payments to the start of the re-assessment. However, again this did not apply here as the Council did not accept it needed to increase Mr B’s direct payments.

The Council was not at fault in the way it met Mr B’s communication needs. The LGO considered that it was clear from the correspondence that the Council made concerted efforts to communicate with Mr B in line with his wishes. It sent correspondence via Ms Y when she was acting on Mr B’s behalf and then through the MP when she was not.

Points for the public and council officers and advocacy organisations

This is a sad case indicating how difficult it must be for people with strong drives and entrenched stances borne of frustration to negotiate their way through a Care Act assessment, and to understand the law, which we think is correctly stated here, by the LGO.

No fault was found in terms of the manner and extent of attempts to communicate with the gentleman. Information sharing by people who are very anxious anyway is hard to get consent to, but the danger is that if people won’t consent or can’t be interpreted as consent, the council will take the person to be withdrawing from engagement or refusing services.

Here, the man thought that he should be given an increase because his informal source of free support had come to an end. That seems rational, but it overlooks the fact that it is only eligible needs – inability to achieve without assistance which causes a significant impact, that the council has to meet anyway. So unless what an informal carer has been willing and able to do has been noted, and allocated by agreement to offsetting eligible needs, it’s not possible for the person or any advocate to be able to tell what the sum of money then being allocated to the budget is supposed to cover, or what needs are regarded as needs but not eligible needs, such that the informal input is having no actual reduction impact ON the cost of the care plan.

Here, oddly, Mr B’s position was that the informal support of Ms Y WAS referred to in the previous plan that he’d had. It was on that footing no doubt that he expected the cessation of that input to lead to an increase in his budget, and the LGO doesn’t deal with that explicitly. The investigator said this:

“I understand Mr B says his needs have changed because Ms Y is no longer providing informal support. However, the Council has set out that informal support was never a factor in his care plan. It considers the hours set out in his care plan already are enough to meet his eligible needs, regardless of what additional informal support he may have previously received from friends. The Council has set out its professional view on this matter clearly and it is not my place to question that view.”

The nature of the advocacy being sought for Mr B is also unclear. If it was Care Act advocacy, which it certainly seems to have been, given the references made in the report to substantial difficulty, the legal framework is that the council appoints the advocate and would not have any reason or obligation to give a choice, but there is no reason why it should not, if it chose to, and could flex its commissioning and procurement arrangements.

The LGO report says that it was reasonable for the Council to expect Mr B would be aware an advocacy service would have to contact him at some point. The advocate does not require the consent of the person to ACT: their role is a statutory one. If the person won’t engage, the advocate making a reasonable and courteous approach, the advocate’s job is not done; the person’s substantial difficulties could be affecting that relationship as much as any other, and the advocate is appointed at the behest of the council to maximise the participation with the Care Act process.

Consent to information sharing, even, about a person with substantial difficulty in engaging would be done on a best interests basis, by any information holder, and lawfully, under the data protection legislation. But the more capacitated the person is, however, the more likely it is that the person might take against an advocate and get even more frustrated by the surreality of an advocate with whom the person does not get along.

Once engaged the advocate is then in a fiduciary and confidential relationship with the client, regardless of where the commissioning or funding has come from. The council does not control the advocate, under the Care Act. But neither does the client!

It is simply wrong for the LGO to say that “The Council can only fulfil its duty to provide an advocate with Mr B’s consent.” That would make the whole function of Care Act advocacy impossible to discharge. It is also wrong to suggest that a council needs someone’s consent to communicate WITH a person living in their area. A moment’s thought should highlight that that’s an ill-thought out position given the range of councils’ functions!

If it was Care Act advocacy, we cannot understand how it came about that the organisation refused the referral; it does not have the choice, under the framework for advocacy.

If you want help, please consider seeking advice from CASCAIDr via our referral form on the top bar menu of the site.

The full Local Government Ombudsman report of Brighton and Hove City Council’s actions can be found here

Access to the Free Database of case law, legislation, and overviews

Adjust The Text Size

Please follow & like us :)

Good News Stories

The London Legal Support Trust has helped US out, in the Covid-19 Crisis, and we really want to give something back. So, CASCAIDr caseworkers and volunteers are walking for justice, in their own gardens, or in a public garden, for 10,000 Steps for Justice. This is not directly for CASCAIDr (because we hope to do […]

CASCAIDr’s CEO Belinda Schwehr was delighted to do a Q&A on the possible link between deaths in care homes and the primary agenda of the government of saving lives by protecting NHS capacity, as the guest of Sophie Chester-Glyn’s CoProduce Care. You can see the video by clicking here and download a transcript here, below, […]

PLEASE do DONATE TO CASCAIDr, during Covid-19 – for the continuation of legal framework ANALYSIS: every little helps! Our donation button is on the right of your screen… We’ve done this post, because the number of Ombudsman’s findings of non-compliance with the Care Act, as we know and love it, over the last year, suggests […]

“I donate for the knowledge, and it’s still cheaper than The Telegraph’s All Digital Access per year, The Times per year,The Guardian for a year and having tried the newspapers vs CASCAIDr, the choice is clear to many – thanks, PK.” Please share:

The LGSCO has published this guidance in the first week of May 2020, having closed to complaints in March. The LGO covers most local government functions, not just social services, but CASCAIDr has looked at the guidance from the Adult Social Care perspective, because that’s the focus of the charity, both before and during Covid-19 […]

CASCAIDr’s CEO Belinda Schwehr was delighted to do a Q&A on the detail about the Care Act easements, as the guest of Sophie Chester-Glyn’s CoProduce Care. You can see the video here, and download a transcript here, but please do consider donating to CASCAIDr’s survival during the Covid-19 period, via our button on the right. […]

What Happened A 38 year-old Polish national was admitted to a psychiatric ward in 2019 having been found partially clothed and wandering outside. Her medical records showed an extensive history of mental health issues, and led to a conclusion that she was not fit to be detained and should instead be taken to hospital. In […]

CASCAIDr’s written a guide about going to hospital, visiting, getting a ventilator and getting out of hospital for people who run care homes and the wider public, for reference and use during the Coronavirus crisis. We’ve done this because of the concern nationwide that people in care homes are not only getting ill, but also […]

In this case, the NHS Foundation Trust applied for an interim injunction on behalf of one of the hospitals it operated, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (a 12-bed ward for those requiring acute neuropsychiatric care for up to 14 days where the patient’s stay could be extended to 28 days in extreme circumstances). […]

Decisions London Borough of Newham (17 017 876) 19/09/2018 https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/housing/homelessness/17-017-876 The Council wrongly told Ms B that it could not provide interim accommodation until it had carried out a home visit, to confirm that she was homeless. London Borough of Newham (17 001 635) 11/12/2018 https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/housing/allocations/17-001-635 Miss B complained the Council unreasonably withdrew an offer […]

Under the Coronavirus Act, it IS now open to councils – and may well already be necessary – to use the normal legal framework duties as powers only, and to prioritise service provision on the basis of severity or imminence of need only, abiding by human rights. The problem now may be the sheer shortage of staff and services, not the money, any longer. […]

As promised, CASCAIDr’s translation or ‘alternative’ interpretation of DHSC’s guidance on the Care Act modifications. Click here to view the document. If practitioners and public want more like this, you need to donate whatever you can, on our button on the right, please, or here: https://bit.ly/2QZZyDc otherwise CASCAIDr can’t continue to function and won’t survive […]

In the last few days, CASCAIDr has been covering human rights in the context of adult social care, on social media. Examples have touched on policies or resources difficulties which have seen carers doing the council’s job for a variety of reasons, varying from not knowing that there is no legal obligation to take on […]

Decision Date: 18th December 2019 What Happened Mrs B complained on behalf of her husband, Mr B. Mr B received three visits a day from care workers. The last visit of the day was scheduled at 9pm, to help him get ready for bed, which involved using a hoist to use the toilet. Mrs B […]

CASCAIDr – the All Adults’ Care and Health specialist legal advice charity – is compelled to go into a different mode for the duration of the Coronavirus crisis. Advice charities are not getting any hint of financial support, and small charities will become insolvent very quickly, it is feared. In all honesty, we can’t hope […]

CASCAIDr wants to support councils to excel at this very difficult time. We know that social work staff did not sign up to do the minimum for vulnerable adults. And we fervently hope to see a new approach to the value of social work and social care, after the virus is beaten, across government and […]

The provisions of the emergency legislation passed into law on 25 March 2020 and allow for suspension of all the mainstream duties in the Care Act, downgrading them all into powers – other than in the one situation, where meeting needs is necessary to avoid a breach of human rights. Regulations were passed on 31st March […]

Statutory guidance states that local authorities must ensure that all frontline staff have general autism awareness so staff can identify potential signs of autism, understand how to make reasonable adjustments in their behaviour and communication. The Autism Act 2009 required the government to produce statutory guidance for NHS and local authorities on working with autistic […]

Upheld 02/10/2019 What happened Miss A had been compulsorily sectioned for a mental health condition and received free aftercare under S117 Mental Health Act from the Council for a placement in a care home. In 2015, the care home closed and Miss A then moved to supported accommodation for people with mental health conditions. Ms […]

SUBJECT MATTER covered by this year’s referrals: Challenges to Assessments – including non-eligibility findings, un-evidenced assumptions about carers’ input and decision-making without regard to advocacy rights Challenges to Care Plans – cuts, delays, lack of care plan transparency and decisions relating to accommodation versus homecare; people being told to spend their own money on conventional […]

Decision Date: 30th September 2019 What Happened Mr B complained to the Council on behalf of himself, as a carer, and his mother, Mrs C. Mrs C was an elderly lady, who suffered from several health problems. She needed help with personal care and often to mobilise. She was also at risk of falling from […]

Date of decision: 26 Sep 2019 What happened Mr B complained about the way Westminster City Council (the Council) dealt with his homelessness case. Readers may well recognise the issues of delay and people being passed from pillar to post: these issues are commonplace, and regarded as inevitable, by most councils, these days. But the […]

Beth’s parents were never seen as partners in the care of their daughter and over time have moved to a combative position as a consequence of lack of involvement, acknowledgement and voice. The lack of diagnosis for Beth, meaningful intervention and management set Beth on a pathway that was foreseen as poor and ended inevitably […]

… is a fantastic judgment from the Court of Appeal (announced 3 October 2019) about the parallel statutory duties owed by a local authority under the Care Act 2014 and the Children and Families Act 2014, and the overlapping Tribunal and JR routes to a remedy for breach of these Acts. Fundamentally, the Court held […]

The First-tier Tribunal has ruled in favour of the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) decision to refuse an application submitted by Lifeways Community Care (Lifeways) to vary a condition of its registration as a care home provider. Lifeways (a care provider looking after people with complex care needs, including those with a learning disability, autism and […]

This case concerned the application of one of the criteria for Personal Independence Payment: ‘Engaging with other people face to face’, a type of need that occurs most commonly amongst those with mental health needs and/or neurodevelopmental conditions (such as Autism). The two central issues were: (1) What “social support” means and how it differs […]

Having taken some time off from managing the flood of referrals received weekly about dodgy practice in adults’ social work, to read Mr Feldon’s article, in Community Care, my jaw dropped. It doesn’t feel as if nobody’s complaining, HERE! However, on a more careful reading, it may just be that it’d been inappropriately edited with […]

Unmet Needs: Improper Social Care Assessments for Older People in England Headline report conclusions “Older people in England are at risk of not getting adequate assistance to live independent, dignified lives due to uneven assessments for social services.” Some said that assessors appeared not even to understand their disabilities and support needs. In other cases, […]

How many of CASCAIDr’s first year’s 200 or so clients were … So, please donate to keep us going into a 2nd year and beyond, by clicking on: DONATE to CASCAIDr What have been the OUTCOMES, for some of CASCAIDr’s most successful clients? Threatened cuts to people’s packages, services or budgets, have been cancelled or […]

This post is for flagging up that there is a much easier way of challenging a local authority’s actions or decisions, policies or practices, than complaining, and it’s not widely publicised. The people responsible for managing this system don’t even agree about its scope, but that doesn’t mean that the words in the statute don’t […]

Many thanks. We managed to persuade them to change their minds ! The various letters from the doctor and mental health made a huge difference, and it was very helpful to have an understanding of the legal background. I will be passing your details to other individuals/complementary organisations who I think would really benefit from […]

“Clearly [the LGO] has changed the report significantly as a result of the previous feedback. Looks pretty much like we have everything significant found in our favour. Thanks for all your help.” Please share:

“The meetings with the CCG and LA went well, and the fees are under renegotiation – they have accepted many of the proposals you suggested we put forward, and we are now down to discussing the last few points! So far so good…thanks for all your help!” Please share:

CASCAIDr has assisted a woman who was told to move her mother by the end of the week, without any assessment of the impact, once her capital depleted, if there was no top-up, to flag up 11 legal reasons why that was simply indefensible. The council is dealing with the matter, apparently, and the private […]

After grinding away for over 18 months, after CASCAIDr advisers spotted that the Disability Related Expenditure part of the financial assessment was flawed, £1500 of so-called charging debt has been written off, implicitly acknowledging that the man’s spend on technological aids was something that had to be allowed for. Please share:

Under the threat of Judicial Review, on which CASCAIDr assisted, a Council has now agreed to complete a full care and needs assessment of x’s needs, produce a care plan, not make any reductions to her care package pending completion of both, and carry out a review before Xmas…. Please share:

JP was awaiting services for a brain injury for 12 months. His partner/carer complained successfully to the LGO about Care Act delays and omissions. His care manager said that care packages were capped at £700 a week, meaning his partner could not return to work. A few legal letters later from a #CASCAIDr adviser, and […]

A woman receives care at home from nurses funded by CHC from the CCG and a parent. On CHC review, disputed DST domain scores were decided by the Panel itself, and the Rationale was not signed. Her mother was called ‘disrespectful’ when she flagged up the breach of the National Framework! Input from a @CASCAIDr […]

A man’s parents shared his care with a care home but have frequent difficulties re handling of injuries, risks, handover and supervision. He has no written care plan from the CCG but it has been suggested that his parents should sign a ‘communication contract’! Input from a @CASCAIDr adviser flagged up that a CARE Act […]

A care home contracted to a CCG gave a young woman 4 weeks’ notice after caring for her for 9 yrs despite owing art 8 obligations under the Human Rights Act (like all homes with publicly funded clients). She is now being helped to move on to supported living. CASCAIDr’s advice helped prevent eviction and […]

Parent deputies got a £2K bill for 2 yrs jointly funded past respite for this young man. DWP benefits had covered his share of household bills (reimbursed as necessaries) and items that were arguably DRE. Retrospective charging CAN be lawful, in certain case, BUT CASCAIDr flagged up that the agencies’ inability to trace any rationale […]

Devoted parents had ultimately lost the care of this young man over a dispute about £10K charges for earlier care. A previous JR had led to a consent order with no MENTION of charges but the man’s mum was removed as deputy, and safeguarding proceedings were started. CASCAIDr advice was that s2 LGA negated the […]

If someone goes completely blind and then later deaf (it happens) s/he can become completely dependent on technology, human help and courage to get through daily living, although remaining fully mentally capacitated. CASCAIDr has helped a man in that situation challenge his council for not reviewing his needs since the Care Act (2015); not providing […]

A man living in Shared Lives accommodation but his carers suddenly needed him to move on, in view of the severe illness of one of the couple. He’d also been excluded from a local day opportunity because he was unsettled, and the council needed to be galvanised. CASCAIDr’s advice to the man’s mother led her […]

A woman has 24hr care in her home as a tenant, in a care package not reviewed for YEARS. The council had agreed ages ago in writing not to change her package without her consent, but wanted to re-assess now and use ‘Just Checking’ to record movement at home. CASCAIDr’s advice has secured acknowledgement of […]

A parent with a severely disabled adult daughter found everyone agreed that the council’s arrangements weren’t working – but nobody seemed to be doing anything about it. The parent was sent hither and thither to look at hopelessly inadequately provisioned settings and told No, regarding a placement that WAS apparently suitable – with no other […]

After advocates’ support, the council was persuaded to use its discretion to take out deputyship and appointeeship as appropriate services to meet needs – they were facilities or support for Care Act purposes, to meet needs related to maintaining a habitable home. Return to main CASCAIDr homepage Please share:

A charitable care provider is told that the council will put in a roving 2 man team for waking night observations for their clients, if the provider won’t drop the fee; the provider is delighted as it had not been getting paid properly for the night time service anyway, so said to the council that […]

An elderly man with capital now below the threshold for a financial subsidy and commisisoning from the council is told that his relatives will have to pay a top up if he wants to stay in the home that he originally chose when self funding. After all other attempts at referring the council to the […]

A young woman’s parents were told that she could only have a service if she moved out of their home into a shared care setting. After her human rights were mentioned, and the Perry Clarke case was referred to, the council accepted that it wasn’t possible to make their help conditional upon the client moving […]

A long-standing client with learning disabilities was suddenly found ineligible at the first post-Care Act re-assessment because assessor had looked at her needs after the support she was already getting from direct payments funded carers, and didn’t bother asking about a couple of listed outcomes at all. A pre-action protocol letter from a solicitor to […]

An exhausted carer asked a council for a carer’s assessment and was found eligible – but offered only a small sum of money as the Take it or Leave it Response. He wanted a service, not extra money. He wanted some help with the cleaning, and didn’t want to employ or supervise a cleaner. After […]

“A purposeful charity working in an area that can help people who need support in dealing with an organisation who has all the knowledge, I have a lot of respect for what you do and thank you for your help with my problem.” Please share:

“Thank you so much for your thoughts on our CHC predicament. It was very detailed and was of great help. I used some of its content with the solicitor to prepare the document lodging our appeal against the CCG to have an independent NHS England review. I again thank you, the report helped me focus […]

“Just wanted to say thank you for everything. I got E a lawyer thanks all to you and things are getting a little easier after a nightmare few weeks. You really stood out on safeguarding across all professions I have talked to in my own career and last few weeks. You saved my sanity and […]

So it’s moving and something is happening; we got the wheels turning and not without your help. I’ll keep you posted, and I really liked the law firm you referred me to. I’m so grateful and you’ve inspired me to keep going, till she gets proper help.” Please share:

“It’s been a long, hard, stressful, anxious and frustrating time for us all. Without your professional knowledge and genuine human kindness due to the passion you have for helping and genuinely caring for people like me, we would of had no choice but to give up fighting, a long time ago. It’s down to you […]

“Please do not apologise for your request that we consider a donation.We’ve already agreed that we needed to do this in the light of your amazing support. Having heard you speak (which served to reconnect me as a social worker to stuff that I hadn’t realised I had lost sight of) I am convinced of the […]

“Thank you so much for your detailed email. I’m going to write a letter to social services. You’ve given me the strength to put some commitment into sorting this out. Thank you so much for your very detailed long response. That must have taken so much of your time to do. I’m going to donate some money […]

“Thanks so much for your frank reply. You are quite right that I could well have an axe to grind. I feel that I am keeping my sister’s best interests at heart and her husband is not; he has his own agenda – but how are you to know that, just because I say that’s […]

“When we sent the letter that CASCAIDr had put together, we did get a response from the Council. It helped to show them that the points we were making about R were valid, and made a case for R to attend the education trust for an additional two days. The council is now funding two […]

“[After support with an LGO complaint about charging and disability related expenditure] Here is the wonderful result so far. It is still in draft and the final decision by Ombudsman will be published soon, but I could not wait to share the news with you. I trust your knowledge and all this would not have been […]

“A small win (but with big individual impact) was when a Social Worker delegate decided not to close a case, which was what was going to happen before the course! The Social Worker has said that there is much more to explore and nuances that need to be considered – I think they meant fluctuating […]

“What you deliver has a real impact on systems change (cultural change) – a difficult metric to measure sometimes. This also means it will have a direct impact on people’s lives (service users and professionals). It truly was an awesome three days of learning. As a city, we are eternally grateful for the knowledge that you […]

“I’m so grateful for your response it really does help to be put in the picture from a legal point of view. I absolutely see myself as fighting not just for myself but for other people that are struggling to make ends meet and not have this life destroy them physically and mentally.” Please share:

“We have known Belinda Schwehr for a number of years and have always found her advice and that of CASCAIDr invaluable. The support and advice from CASCAIDr has been particularly useful for people in receipt of statutory funding (and their families) who find themselves in a situation where their statutory funding is in danger of […]

“After nearly 18 months of trying to get Adult Social Care to communicate with us regarding my brothers direct payment we enlisted the help of CASCAIDr. The case, although complex, was settled without the need of legal proceedings and we were extremely pleased with the work and support of the charity.” Please share:

“If I had to use one word to express what Cascaidr does, it would be ‘reassure’. Reassure one has not ‘lost the plot’ – the law is the law. Reassure one feeling (well, loads actually!) that the law is being ignored is justified. Reassure one can do something about it and with Cascaidr’s support, in the end, the law is […]

“A county council attempted to reduce my learning disabled brother’s care package of five hours per day to three hours, without making a proper assessment of his needs, which had not changed for some years. CASCAIDr were fantastic in helping me draft letters with the relevant legal vocabulary, including references to the Care Act and […]

“Thank you for you very comprehensive reply. The heavily subjective nature of the CHC assessment process I find extremely frustrating. I’ve read a lot online about CHC in the last two years, but still I do not understand what constitutes the legal limit of Social Services! Your reply has helped confirm the government has succeeded […]

“Thank you so much for your extensive reply. It is much appreciated. There have been many charities I’ve contacted and many don’t want to know. My uncle is a complex case and different to many, as he does have mental capacity. Many organisations are simply not interested. I thank you deeply for taking the time to […]

“I cannot give enough praise to CASCAIDr! They took a very unjust situation and made it all better! We were handed an ultimatum to make a direct payment of £900.00 to a private ambulance firm or my father would not be discharged from hospital and transported to the waiting care home out of area. I […]

“The support and advice from CASCAIDr has been particularly useful for people in receipt of statutory funding (and their families) who find themselves in a situation cuts are hinted at, or excessive commissioning pressures are mounting. The current political and economic climate is a tough one but CASCAIDr reminds us all that the rights of […]

“Thank you for your advice about encouraging us to ensure that the council’s care planners and their care providers are aware of our adult daughter’s obvious inability to understand the consequences of SOME of her less desirable, apparent choices, We can see immediately how this advice serves our daughter’s needs and our responsibilities toward her. We should have asked […]

“We had help over several months from CASCAIDr which was very supportive and helpful in dealing with a reluctant social services council. With their help and expertise we got the support we were asking for – so we moved from no help to what we wanted. This has been a great relief and we appreciate the legal […]

“I am very grateful for the support and advice given to me by CASCAIDr in my fight to keep a traditional bank account for my direct payment, when the Council tried to force me to have a prepaid card which was unsuitable for my needs. After what felt like a David vs Goliath battle, thanks […]

“As a Local Authority we want to get it right first time for our local citizens but in our improvement journey, this has not always happened, to both our – and some of our citizen’s disappointment. In one complex case CASCAIDr assisted us in our response to the LGO with their independent expertise. The learning […]

“Our family moved on from utter despair to some hope, because of CASCAIDr. The council acted unlawfully and CASCAIDr made them change their minds. No one was prepared to listen until very fortunately for us we were introduced to this charity. Belinda was kind, selfless and expert in Adult Social Care law and her efficiency […]

“I am immensely grateful for all the help you have given me to try to secure a transparent, coherent, rational and lawful assessment of my daughter’s care needs. With your help we were absolutely delighted to be awarded compensation from the LA for previous botched assessments. It makes all the difference to know that CASCAIDr are there […]

“Councils are very strapped for cash at present and often act illegally or unreasonably in trying to cut Direct Payment budgets. This happened in my daughter’s case. CASCAIDr were great in providing help and ammunition to challenge the Council. By the time I consulted CASCAIDr I had in fact already put the matter in the […]

“Like many other parent carers, we cannot bear to think of what life would be like at present without your legal advice – our local LA intended to not only slash our daughter’s budget, but dictate how and who should manage the budget, with almost immediate effect. We wouldn’t have had the mental or physical strength to continue […]

“CASCAIDr has made me realise that you’re not alone out there, and that local authorities WILL listen to you if you have CASCAIDr’s support and backing. They have helped, and are continuing to help me, to find a suitable home for my brother. I feel so much more optimistic, and really appreciate the ongoing help […]

“I am immensely grateful for all the help you have given me to try to secure a transparent, coherent, rational and lawful assessment of my daughter’s care needs. With your help we were absolutely delighted to be awarded compensation from the LA for previous botched assessments. It makes all the difference to know that CASCAIDr are there […]

A. Because we are not doing them at the moment / the process is just too complicated and it will take too long “I am sure that councils do not have the legal right to say that it just doesn’t suit them to give money out as a substitute for services. The Care Act says […]

“…And if that’s not enough, well then, we guess that you’ll be withdrawing your request for a direct payment, yes? or else accepting the budget as less than you know is needed via a DP route, as a matter of your own choice…” Anyone thinking that this is the bit of the Self Help […]

“Clearly [the LGO] has changed the report significantly as a result of the previous feedback. Looks pretty much like we have everything significant found in our favour. Thanks for all your help.” Please share:

“The meetings with the CCG and LA went well, and the fees are under renegotiation – they have accepted many of the proposals you suggested we put forward, and we are now down to discussing the last few points! So far so good…thanks for all your help!” Please share:

People have a right to advocacy – independent funded advocacy – under the Care Act, if they have substantial difficulty with regard to the processes in the Act where councils are required to INVOLVE people before making a decision. So it’s not an absolute right, as such, but a right that flows from a professional […]

It’s almost impossible in England for a council to refuse to assess someone for adult services, without breaching public law duties. So if someone refuses you the chance to be assessed, this is what to say: I believe that the Care Act imposes a duty on councils to assess people’s needs if there is merely […]

If a council or a CCG says this, they are treading on very thin ice, these days. They’d be thinking that the definition of a personal budget, in legal terms, is the cost to the council of meeting the needs, and inferring from that that no council need offer anyone any more than it would […]

If a council or a CCG says that it is using the cost of a care home locally as a measure of what it should offer, the cost is not an unlawful consideration in and of itself, but it cannot be the ONLY determinant of its care planning function (regardless of whether one’s purchaser is […]

a) … WITHOUT ANY re-view or re-assessment having taken place: I am certain that it’s not lawful to cut a person’s care package without doing a review, and then a re-assessment using Care Act criteria if a cut is proposed, for whatever reason. I am sure that your senior management team have not meant to […]

“It’s not actually a bigger personal budget, but the lower charge, brought about through this success on the DRE point, gives me the courage to spend my own money on what I need, to cope with my total blindness and hearing impairment. Not a day goes by when I don’t tell SOMEone about CASCAIDr’s support” […]

“The council agreed to backdate the care costs to July 2016. I’d put in a formal complaint, in the light of your recommendation. So I want to thank you very much indeed for your advice, without which I can’t imagine we’d have got very far. It’s been such a long and stressful haul that I’m […]

“What would I do without you? Many thanks for your help. I particularly liked the way in which you juxtaposed xyz with the council’s position on abc – it brought a smile to my face.” Return to main CASCAIDr homepage Please share:

“Your new Charity is exactly the kind of initiative that that the charity which I Chair, wants to support. Your work in community care law is cutting edge, and the times ahead need you even more. No other lawyer has ever been dedicated enough to such ideals as to write me back about my daughter […]

“The local authority panel wouldn’t agree to funding for a placement with the type of psychological input to care which my daughter desperately needs – they were offering wholly inadequate alternatives. Belinda helped me assert in very clear term that as they’d not carried out the assessment correctly, they weren’t making a defensible judgement on […]

It’s easy to make a donation, and we hope we have inspired you to do so.

You can click on the Donate button above or on our right hand side bar, to donate to our cause, core costs and ongoing output. Our Donation Button was the most cost-effective giving site we could find, and that means that we are maximising the proportion of your donation, and putting it to use. It costs just 10p per donation (and 1.4% of the amount goes to the card company.) There are no transaction fees, only a card processing fee. We are advised that if donors added £1 to every £60 they want to donate, they would be covering the card fee and the company’s own processing charge, in any event. So a donation of £61.00 means we receive £75.30 if you can tick the Gift Aid box, or £60.05 if not.

There’s no set amount for a donation. We’re happy with whatever amount a person can afford, even if it’s just £10.00, especially if it can come in a little and often, we’re in it for the long term and need to keep going. We’d really appreciate your sign-up for automated ongoing contributions – monthly is how that works. You will be able to click to do the GiftAid declaration, if you are a taxpayer – as it makes the government pay us an extra 25%.

If you are a business, you can donate and make it a tax deduction, because of our charitable status.

If you’re a business with health and social care clients, how about £1 per client per year, as an affordable suggestion? Or £2 a year per client, if you are a private for-profit provider?

Whatever the basis of your business, we’d be just as happy if you took out a Package Deal if you’re a lawfirm, health/social care/support provider, support broker or advocacy organisation. Package Deals are equally tax deductible, because the membership fee means you’re buying actual benefits, and all the money goes into the Charity’s funds.

If you or your staff like being sponsored to DO amazing things, we’d love it if you were to organise a fund-raiser for CASCAIDr. We can provide you with blurb, pictures, success stories to help you, too!

Major donations really improve the amount of assistance we can provide to those with care and support-related public law legal problems. It could lead to a person receiving advice when no one else is willing and/or able to help.

Your generosity, towards the end of your life, through a legacy, could make a real and lasting positive difference to the lives of many of our typical users and clients.